Saint Joan - photo 1
Saint Joan - photo 2
Saint Joan - photo 3

Saint Joan

Lot 100
28.09.2023 13:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 7 560
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1016402
Lot 100 | Saint Joan
Estimate value
£ 4 000 – 6 000
Saint Joan

George Bernard Shaw

SHAW, George Bernard (1856-1950). Saint Joan: a Chronicle Play in Six Scenes and an Epilogue. London: Constable and Company Ltd., 1924.



Presentation copy of the first edition, inscribed by the author to H. G. Wells (1866-1946); with, loosely inserted, the final two letters Wells wrote to Shaw. Saint Joan premiered at the Garrick Theatre, New York, in December 1923, three years after the canonization of Joan of Arc by the Roman Catholic Church, and two years before the author was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. According to his biographer Stanley Weintraub, ‘even the Nobel prize committee could no longer ignore Shaw after Saint Joan’. Shaw and H. G. Wells were two of the most prominent and influential writers of their time, and shared a complex relationship characterized by mutual respect and public disagreement.



Octavo. (Endpapers lightly browned.) Original green cloth lettered in gilt to spine (lacking the dust-jacket); custom green cloth chemise and morocco-backed slipcase. Provenance: H. G. Wells (1866-1946; authorial presentation inscription on half-title: ‘to H. G. W. affectionately from G. B. S. 20th June 1924’) – bookseller’s label of Philip C. Duschnes, New York, on rear pastedown – sold Swann Galleries, 7 May, 1998, lot 226.



[with:] two autograph letters signed ('H.G.') by H.G. Wells to Shaw, 13 Hanover Terrace, 13 and 14 September 1943, sending condolences after the death (on 12 September) of Shaw's wife, Charlotte; together 3 pages, the first on a correspondence card.



The two letters from H.G. Wells offer his thoughts on the death of Shaw's wife, Charlotte Payne-Townshend: 'Life has to end and I am glad dear Charlotte just went to sleep and thought no more about it ... you two have had a great time & done some fine things' (13 Sept.); 'People who have really lived into our lives never die. Often they influence us more after they are "dead" than when they are everyday companions. I still quite often think "Jane wouldn't stand for this" ... I think Charlotte was the sanest, most generous & loveable person I have ever known'

Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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28.09.2023 – 28.09.2023
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
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